"fHE OLD SIAMESE CONCEPTIOf~

OF THE MONARCHY
by
lhi nee Dlmni

In March 19-t(i I h:t<l the hollollr of giving a Jeetnre on hehaU

of t.he Hiam Society before a distingnisho<l gatlwring w!Jieh was
gl'aood by the lH'UHPncc of their Majesties the lat.c: King Anancla an<l
the preS@t :King with their mot.her Her Hoyal Higlmess the dowager
Princess of Songkhla. 'What l was asked by tho President of the
Society to Apeak a1)()11t was the :mbjoet of tho Siamuse Co1ormtion.
Although the snhject was o great interest to me aml I lnul DHttlc,
at t.hu cmnrnand oJ' His l:tto l\b;jesty King Prajadhipok, a S[Jceial
study of it, I could. not help feeling that it was hardly a topic that
wonl<l ap]Jeal to a general autlienee. On heing J'nrthor ptessed into
delivering tho lecture, I n~eol\ocLerl :< eertain passage in J\falinnw~ki's
/)'cieru~e, Uoliuion and l~ectl,ty qttot.ell by Dl'. H.G.Q. Wales in his
/::/iet'171JJSIJ ,)'late Ceremonies, p. :), t.hns:

A Hociot.y whioh rnakes its tradition saeted hus gained by

it inest;imahlo :Mlvnntage of pmvm and permanence. Snell
beliefs and practices, then1foro, which put a halo of sanetity
ronnd tradition, will have a 'omrvival valne' f:or the type
of civilisation in whieh t.h<>Y have been evolvcorl ..
'l'hey were bought at an extravagant ptico, and are to lw
maintained at any cost.

In a wave of nationalistic impulse, kin<llell by the above

quotation, I changed my mind and nnt:lert;ook to give tho h\ct.mo.
Since, however, tho coronation cetPmony had huon extensively
studied and accurately described elsewhere by the lefll'llell lk Wn'Jes
 H. I-I. PRINCE D HAN! (Vol. XXXVI
92

and by obsel'vers among whom mysnJj(ll, 1 prr.l':u.~r~tl my lcet.ure

with fnrther resn1ts of my stwly o.C Lhu inst.it11Lioll ul' Killg::-~h1p by
way of offering to tlte amlienee somethillg new and ul'iginal. That
lecture was reproduced verbatim in Ow lueal da-ily f,illl'l'il/ PI
March 194G. A Siamese version was also madP t:rn.m 1t aml pnh1islwd
under the auspices nj' Phm Suddhi-arth for presLntat.iun to gneslH
who attended the cremation of hil'l mother awl has abo ;tppPai'ti!l in
the 4th Siamese number o[ the ;Jonmal (.Jnnllal'y Hl-11). The
subject therefore of the Coronation Ceromouy lws l.H~LH given
snl:ficiont publicit,y aml in complying wlth Ute n~rpwst of tho
editorial conunittee for that lectnre 1 am snhmH.tiug uwtdy its first
part dealing with the theory of the SiameHe Monarelty, to whieb
I have made considerable additions as wen as giv<ll t'ull nl\r<)lJCf!H
which could naturally find no room in a Jcct.me.

Cultural Background
To nnderst~1.nd the old Sittmese eonception of tbo Monarchy, let
ns consider qnite briefly the cultnra1 lmclcgronnd of tho 'J'Iwi race.
As they emerged from the hinterlanrl of sonth China and do::;cC'IHled
upon the upper reaches of the Indochinese rivers from an early
period, the 1'hai were probably animists(2l. In the 1VI:enam valley
they came into contact in the XIlth century (Christian era) with the
Mon state of Dvamvati. 'rhe latter, being cultural descendants of the
'relingana of the npper west. coast of the Bay of Bfmgal who had
- - - - - - - - - --------------
(1) In English: H.G.Q. Wales: Siamese State Ceremonie.s 1931.; Official
pamphlet, The OO?onat-ion of His JJiaiesty P1aiad/dpolc, J{jn(} of
S-iam (by H. H. Prince Dhani 1925);
In Siamese: Prince Damrong: IIistoTy of the Second Bei(Jn pp 1547; An
official :record of the coronation of King Vaji:rav~dh, Nat. Library
Ed. Bgk 2466 (1923); An official record of the coronation of King
Prajadhipo],, Govt. Gazette, sp. no. 2468 ( 1925); A poetical narrative
of the coronation of King Prajadhipok, very detniled, bv H.H.H
Prince Naradhip, 2468 (1925 );
In French: La ceremonie d~ couronnement au Siam, Exl1:imw As'ic,
no. 13, Juillet 1927.
(2) Traces of animism in our beliefs and customs survive to the present
day despite the f:ran]dy anti-superstitious attitude of Hinayana
Buddhism. The cui t of the lcwan, for instance, seems to imply a certain
undetermined el.ement in every individual which is to be protected
and treasured w1th care. A stt1dy of this preBuddhistic animism
would require a book by itself.
pt 2) THE OLD SIAMESE CONCEPTION OF THE MONARCHY 93

mossutl Llw Bay to :;oLt;le down on this side of it, possessed a high
cul (,llJ'O bm;etl npnu t,]lO Hi nay ana sehool of Buddhism. It was this
cnltlll'e whieh exerted the most lusting influence npon the 'l'htLi
of the Menarn valley, in other word.:> the Siamese. It was also
J'ro.n1 Lhe:;o people or their descendants that we got our old legal
tl'eatise of the 'J'hnmmasat, which served for a long time as the
Siamoso Coustitnt.iou. History does not tell us very clearly how
those Mon disappcaletl from the scene. It was from a blending
of t.he ohl Thai ideal wit.h this C'!tltnre that we developed that
putriarehal kingHhip with which I shall go on to deal later.
Once iu the valley of the JVlenam, we came into contact with
the great Kinner empil'e, which is mainly known to posterity through
it.H g1eat. monnm<mts snch as A11gkor. 'l'heir culture was made up of
Hin(lltism from the innnmelahle waves of Indian immigration and
of Mtdwyn.n:t Bnddhit:nn inhel'itcd in all probability from the rnle of
the "Kiug of tho Mountain" of the naval empire o Srivijaya. 'l'he
KluLwt !levdovud out of these somcos their own cult of the Devarai,
or divilw kingship. When tho Siamese onsted the Khmer from the
l\fenam valley, tlwy emno nuder the inilnence of the latter's culture.

Patriarchal Sukbothai Kingship

A~ I have jnH(; point.ed nut,, the ol<l 'l'hai had their own
tra\1 it ion:l o[ kingshiv. 'l'lw morutreh was of course the people's
len.dor in htlLle; bnt lto wa::; u.lso in peaco-t.ime theil' :EaLher whose
arl vi eo wa;; sunght and expPete(l in all matter:; and whose judgment
was aecoplutl by alL Ilu waK rnoruo vor aecesrlible to his 11eople,
fur we ato toltl by an old inscription that, in ftoonL of the royal palace
of 8nkhotlw:i there nsetl to be a gong hnng up for people to go and
heat npon whenever they wanted personal help and red1ess. 'l'he
custom survived with slight modifications all thron~h the centuries
down to the change of r(Jgime in 1932. Under Kings Rama VI and
Prajadhipok for instance instead of Lhc gong the1e used to be
stat,ione<l at the front gate of the Grand Palace a "gentleman-at-
arms,'' or tam1"U.ac luang, whose duty it was to receive any written
94 H.H. PRINCE DllANI (Vol. XXXVI

petition which a snhject conld submit (,o hii:l king. Needless to say,
not only was the King rewarded for hi<~ resvnm;ihilities with
popular reS11ect, but was also liable to he blamed hy his filial
subjects on oecasions of national as well as personal calamities, oven
including a c1op .failnrc.

The Thammasat
What formalised thi:-~ patriarchal kingship was the Constitntion
of the 'l'hammasat (hom the Pali DhrmzJna8ctttha) which we got
from the Mon. Its origin might have been very ol<l. Its inspiration
was doubtless older for it can lJe tmced to the Dialut Nilrayn of the
'1.'1:p1;talca which Hhys Davids asHigns to tho Vth ccntnry B. C. 'l'he
'l.'hctnuna8at describes its i<leal of a monarch as n King of Righte-
ousness, elected by the people (the .ZVlahaswnnwtn). It::1 inspirationl 3 l
describes its ideal monarch in identical terms, that is the
1}1ahasammata, 'elected by the people'. It fnrther uxplains that he
was a khetttiya,, 'Lord of the fi.elds' aml one who charnHl others ancl
thereby eams the title of 1'aJa. It is of interest to note that the
term lchettUy[t, del'ived from the Sanskrit lcs!tatriyn, is the etymolo-
gical and possibly historical eflnivalent of tho Iranian lcshalJYtpct
which has heon anglicisod tluongh the (}reek 8alrarJes int,o satrap.
I do not know whether tho itlentHy with our tt!rm Chao P'r.umdin,
'the Lord of the Land' is historical or merely acci\lcmtal, for no
etymological connection can he traced t.hrongh U1o Pali or Sansluit.
According, t.hen, to the 'l'hmnmasat, t.ho ideal monareh a,IJi!les
steculjast in the ten lcinlfl!J vi1tnes, constantly ltplwlrlino the jivo
common zl1'ecepts and on holy days tho set oj' cit;hl preceJll8, Uvin(J
in kndncss an1l uoodwill to all buin{l8. He taJr:c8 }Jet-i-ns to studu t/w
'l.'hnmnuMal a. nd to keep tho fow 1Jrinciplvs of Ju,gi'ica, n mnely: to
assess the Ti{fht 01' W1'0111J of all SM'Vice or disservice 1''nnde?'ell to him,
to uphold tho 1"iuhteous nnd ti'Jtlhjul, to cwrJ:ni1'e ridws th1'0'I.{Jh
nona. but just 1/WCtns rtnd to maintain the li'/'OSZJM"ily of his sta,te
th:_1!}!tflf~_!!C!_i_W ~!~-~- _insl lnf!CIIUl:_ _ ______ _
------------
(3 l Digha Nikaya, Agganna Sutta, section 21, tr. by Rhys Davids in
D'inlogll!Js of the Burlrllw Vol. IV, p, 88.
pt 2) THE OLD SIAMESE CONCEPTION OF THE MONARCHY 95

The ten kingly virtues above eited are often qnotrcl in Siamrse
lHera\,nre aiUl aUri lmte(l to the eormnontators of the .TataJGl( 4 ).
They are: almsgivinf..\, rnorality, liberality, rectitude, gentleness, self-
restrictioll, non-anger, non-violence, forbearance and non. obstruction.
Usually coupled with tho above is anot.hor curious quartett.e of th0
lines of concllle\, proper for an ideal monarch. They are: sasBamedlw
knowledgu of food Ol'ganization, pttdsctmedha. knowledge of men,
samm1tpit.sa means of winning the people's heart, vi'.tchpeyya ger1tle
words. 'l'he qwwt.ette is Haid to have heen Ps\ablishecl by sages of
olcl. With :jnst a little imagination one easily detects nnder the Pall
veneers of thPse ethical terms t.he names of BralmHtn l:lamifices of old
as laid down for Bralnnrm monarehs in the lhttapatJw, Br!"thmama.
Nothing can he more unlnulrlhistic than some of these sacrifices and
the way t1wy have bMn tr:msfomwc1 is a clever piece of linguistic
juggling t.o reach a compromise. Sassmnedlw is in J':wt from
asvarneclha the famons horse-sacrifiec; Lnt?'isamctlhn irl JJII,.J'trslir.mwdhn
the human-sacrifice long discontinuocl hy the Hintlns themselves;
V(tci.t.1WY!fn is Lhe uhJ'apeya rit11al celohrat<<l to obtain plenty; hut tho
laHt I havt not !K~cn ahle to idontiJ'y, thongh the Pali 'l'ext Socict.y' s
Dietionary says it, waR a saeri'f:iee and was the eqnivalent of the San-
skeH srtmyhp?'i18rt, whatever that may be. 'rllP fhst three are wrdl-
known and ful1 !letnilH nu.1.y be had from the Satapatha B?'ithmomr~(5>,
'l'hnK fmtified ]Jy t.Jw above rnles of conduut., tbe ideal lllllllal'eh

justifie:'l him:cwlf aH \.lw King of llighteouf:lnl'HH. And thl'ongh riglrte-

onHnP:-J8 lw n~:ty at.tain Lo thu dignity of a r:aJcru vadill, t.]Jo universal
sovereign. Snelr is t.be t.hc~ni'Y tteco~tliug t,o tho inspirtd.inn of the
Bud<lhis\, Oawn1( 6 ). Lrt ns uxamine the theory lJy loo1dng nt the
following whieh waH 11rolmlJly the very pat>sagc which inS]lired
tho jurists 0 [ old who wrote t.he original of the 'j'/t({.1/i1/UtSrtt.

( 4) Oomnwntmu of the .Jataka III 274.

(5) For the asvamedha, Sacred Boolcs of the East, V, p. 274 et sqq.; the
purushantedha, SBE V, p. 405; the vajapeya, SBE !It, P 41.
(6) Digha Niyaka, Cakkavatti S11tta, sect, 6; tr. Dial, of the Bndha, IV
p. 62 et sqq.
96 H. H. PRINCE DHANI (Vol. XXXVI

But, what,, sire ifl this Ariyan dnty of a whod-tnming

monarch (i.e. the calr:'t'[(1J({.<J'l'i:n) ?
'l'his, dear son, that thou, leaning on the N onn ( Dluunnw ),
honouring, respecting and revering it, doiug homage to it,
hallowing it, being thyself a Norm-bearer, a Norm signal,
having the Norm as thy master, shonldst provide the right
watch, ward and JWotection for thy own folk, for the army, for
the nobles, for vassals, for Brahmins and honsehohlorB, fur town
ancl conntly-clwollets, for the religious world, and for beasts
an<l birds. 'l'l1J.'onghont thy kingdom lot no Wl'<lllg-doing
prevail. And whoever in thy kingdom is pom, to him let
wettlth he given.
And when, <lear son, in thy kingdom men of religions life
.... shall come to thee ftom time to timu and <tueslion thee
concerning what i01 good and what iK lmd, what is criminal ancl
what action will in the long run work for weal or foi' wou,
thon shonlclst heat what they have to say, and thou shonl<lst
ileter them from evil antl bi(l thflm take np what is good.
'l'his, dear son, is the Ariyan duty of a sovrau oJ' the worlrl.

'l'he old tale goes on to say that upon the strict ol>Setvnnce of
his father's injnnct,ions as iletailetl above, the young monateh,
suceeeding his father who rethecl in old age, found one day npon tho
nptlcr tenaee of his palace the covotc(l eelestial wheel, wlricl1 l'ol1c(1
onwmd fil'st to the east ancl then to other quarters of the universe.
'l'he king followed with his army; and whe1ever it Htoppccl thoru
tho victorious war-lord took np his abode and wiU1 him hiB fomfolll
army. All the rival Kings in those respective regions cmne to the
HOVI'an king to give him welcome and beg for his teaching. Tho
king then exhorted them to refrain from killing, from stealing,
from arlnltery, from untrnth and ftom intoxicating thinks, CUlling
np with the injnnct.inn EnJoy yoHr 2JOSBBssions as yo have lieon
IUO!!t to . , . ,
'nw ahove is hnt ouo example of thu fail'ly extensive but
scattererl material in Pali lite1ature which inBpil'ecl Uw 'J'hamnwsat.
 pt 2) THE OLD SIAMESE CONCEPTION OF THE MONARCHY 97

'l'ho elate of the 'l'hammasat shonld lw an important J'aetor in

t1acing the hitltol'y of tho Siamese conception of the monnJelty but
iH ;;t,ill 1111<1otennined. 'l'ho premnhlo of thf~ 1'/wmmw.;at t:JtatP:> th~tt
the wmk was ~

enunciated by tho see1 of the J11amt.'i(wn in t.he beginning

in the original language, haudeL1 down flom Limo iunuemol'ial
( and.) is now established among the B.fLmni1.i'ia; awl, lwing thus
difficult fo!' men to render from tho Rarnai\iia language, I have
therd'ore done it in the langnage of Siam.

Now, \ve know from Mon history that 'vVareru, the 'l'hai king
of lVIartaban, har1 a standard lVIon code of laws written nncloJ his
patronage about 1280 or 1281 which bore the name of vVrtgrt'l''lt
DhaJmnrttlwt. According to a Llistingnishecl legal historian this was
without doubt one of the oldest vehicles by which the laws of lVIanu
penetraLerl into Siam ( 7 l . In accepting lY.I. Lingat's statement, I
presnme n:[ course that lHl llid not lose Hight of I<'orchhammer's
theory that the Mun htw-code, Indian in origin, reflects the social
and religiom,; conditions of Ancient h1clia during tlw supremacy of
Bncldhism and can claim to belong to a Bnrlrlhist Mana va school
earlier than the well- known Brahmanic recension of lYbnn, the
lVJhnrtuculhar'masctstntJSl. 'l'hat the Wnoarn Dlzarnmathat,
influenced onr laws iH further confirmed by t,he fact that it was later
translnterl into Pali in the XVlth century by the Mon jndst
Bncldhaghosa, and called the Metnw;(t.rn. Here, therefore, we have
cleal'ly before ns tho solution of the problem of tlH~ origin of onJ
laws, for in all prolJability the 'seer of the JvJanltBiLJ'a,' mentioned
.in the preamble just quoted was none othel' than this Bnddhaghosa,
the J\1on jurist. 'Tho only argument against such a hypothesis is
thnt the process of translation has been Jevel'Sed.

(7) R, Lingat: l'inIuence indoue dans l'ancien droit siamois, 1937 (dans
l'Etude de sodologie et d'ethnolouw im"idiqlles no, XXV)
(8) Fo:rchhB.mme:r's opinion, quoted by Mabel Bode: The Pal-i L'itemtn1e
of Bztnna, p, 86,
98 H. H. PRINCE DHANI (Vol. XXXVI

Royal Ordinances
'l'hough aplHm<leu, in tho UurpnK of 1~0;), to the 'l'!trtnunuBr"tJ,
itt-1 final soct-iun shonlcl he rnal'ly outside. It. is ohviom\ly an intm-
polation for it is uilf:enmt to the fmegoing in ::~tyln as well as in
matter. vVhereml t.l10 Pali 'l'lutm1nasirl iH wl'itten in the stulm lltetl't!,
tlri::l last Kt~etion is in the nrlaunfint; wlwreas t.hu g1'ammm of the
former ii:l none too classical, that of the lattPr is ftankl y had.
'.!'his
lnst part d<lals with what iR ealle<1 shlchhk1tdi, i.P. hmnch mattm, in
eoutnttlistinction to rn itlakwU, tJtm k or Plornental matte>r, w hieh
refers to the '1'/wmnw,~i:d-propor. Tho text definefl this 'hrauch
rnatter' afl including the. PMa HitJalmmnocl and Ph,a nll:iaba1'i/i/.({,t,
that is royal ordinances. H.oyal orrlinuuces wore eolltctivoly known
as the BctJasitt, a term that might be rcnde.recl as ' King's Loro' as
distinct from the 1'hammrts'itt, the 'Inspired Lore,' which was the
work snpposerlly of a superim agency, a Constitution in fact which
was not to be tampered with even hy tho higheflt in the land.
In the Pali original those royal ordinanees are Hai<l [,o have
been promulgated by the ancient King Hamallhipati, thnH

Si1kha tthani1mena pa bheda!Jhinni"L

Anelmdhli. sa .................. .

PoriLI,lari1j ena narinda-Hi1mi't

Dhipattiyenil.bhiparaklmmena

.................. pati~~hita to.

'l'he mediaeval Siamese translator, however, took this in

another sense. His very free rendering was by ancient k 1:nus 1:n
sevorGtl sw;cessiun 21er'iods.' Here is perhaps an illnst.ration of a
contlict between tho litera1y and the jnt'idical conscience. It might,
have. happened in this way. A certain 'ancient King Hamnclhipati',
whoever he was, initiated the ::~ystem of 'King's Lore' to run along.
Bide with the 'Inspired Lore', wit.hont o:E conrse contradicting it,.
\Vhetht>.l' he was the Hamadhipati who fonnllecl Ayt1l1hya in 1350
pt 2] THE OLD SIAMESE CONCEPTION OF THE MONARCHY 99

tn whom many enactmlmtN Wt~l'e li.tLribnted{9), or rmy other Rama-

dhipa.ti hul'oto ltlO~>, oe eV!'ll the eul'iglJttned 11amadhipati of the
Mon who was t.ho only Mon king t.o hn RO mtmecl (i.e. King
Dhamrnaeet.i Hli0-H91), one has no nwans at, the pre::;Pnt. time of
knowing. In any case that Pali passage must have l>een written
duriug tho reign of a HamadhirJati, hut the Siarueso translation was
made ~ome time after whcu his example had hoeu followud lly other
monarchs who succeeded him. As has been said by sclwlars
of legal history, tho function of the king was not tu legislate bnt
to protect the people ancl preservt: the sacred law. It. might have
been true in many cases that by ]Womulgating ordinances the king
eoulcl bend and entirely contra vert the '!'hronnul.~at to snit hi8 uud;
and yet he coulcl. not hopC' to give hirJ decision:> tho lasting form and
authority of the latter; imvo:>ed as it. was by Stl]Jerior ageucy{lO).
My survey wunld not be complete if I omitted to mcnt.ion
a class o.l' moralist lite1atme in t~iamese which lays d.o>vn :for the
mmmrch a line of emulnet t.lwt has obviously been inspired by an
ancieut Iuclian enltnrc t.ltat. snrvivcs in the Jatalca aud its communL-
aries. It was 1nohalrly from the 8arue en1turo that the elassic:al
Sanskrit law- book, ]11 cMtal'rullnM'ma~ctst?a wa8 der:i ve(l t.lwngh
independently of our source of in8piration. Wllil::;t om' moralist.
literature h; pnroly literary, tho lnttor was framed in a witlor scopo
to include law as welL It is worthy oJ' notice t.lmt tho Khmer Ltrw
Code(ll) also includes thi::; kind of matter within its Beovu under
the heading of Beach NUisatth. It, is therefore MnnpLing to spPCH-
late that the original Siamese Code of Laws ns in use in the du;yB of
Ayudhytt might have also included the matter, which wns clropped
sometime later-obviously before the l'evision of lo05. In any easu
it has smvived a,::; a separate literary work called the BctianiN.
This work was published at the Vajl'inda Pross in H. S. l~W ( 1901)

(9) Though Dr. Wales does not give him that credit, cf. ib'wient SimJW80
Government and A.dminist?'alion, pp.172-3
(10) ibid. p. 170.
(11) Leclere: Codes Cambodgiennes, Tome I, pp. 6588.
 H. I-I. PRINCE DIIANI (Vol. XXXVI
100

wit.h an explanation that it dealt with lrrtditirms ll'lii<'lt /;iu[l8

H!wnl1l mainlCi'in in j1.t8licr! mul with llw ili.s{108-itiull8 uf nuil and
uood people and the conS'idcwation to lw -nuulc in rtiuiltlf llil'lll rtppuiut-
mcnl8. 'l'he work is written in stun~as, flmt a PaH original-~o far
unknown as to venue-and then a prose pnrltphrnse iu Siamese. 'l'ltn
work lJears no date but. mentions the names of two Bmlunius as
anthors, by the names of Anantaiil'u:a and Gn~1~missaka. '.l'huy
are not known outside of this work. The i11Hial l'ali vu1So ]J('gius
thns:
Rajanitisatthalfl raiino
DitthaclhamrnattlmsiWhanaJ~1
Vnccate lJnddhi vnt'_l\lhatLha~1
Pararattha vimaddane.

and then-
Khattiyassa amaccassn
Vukkhiimi gm_tabkkhanan.1
Sadabhijo mahipiUo
Sammabhatte parikkhaye.

Another work, much in the same vein, was pnhlis]w(l by

the National Libnwy under the title of Bujani,t-isu.st1a in 1\l;~o.

Unwritten Traditions
Ontshle of the 7'lwmrnasa.t there have been harH1N1 <lown
other traditions which can not be traced to any tr<'atisc on }ioli\,y.
'l'his survey would not he complete without touching on them.
A Siamese monarch sncceeds to the Throne thooret,icnlly
by election. 'J'he i<len is of course recognisable as coming from the
ohl Buddhist scriptm'l'S in the figure of King Mahasammata, the
'Great, Elect.' No lu.m1 and fast rules exist as to how electors are
qnrtlifiecl as such, but they were usuall~r royal and temporal Lords
of the Realm Hcnnetimes doing their bm;iness in the pre8ence, but
not with the part.ieipation, of spiritual I,onls. ll'l'egular successions
pt 2) THE OLD SIAMESE CONCEPTION OF THE MONARCHY 101

there certainly have heen, but they were exceptions ratlwr than
tho rule.
I wi 11 not haz:wd a gncss as to when tho monarch be carne
known colloquially m' the 'Lord of Life,' ( 0 han j'iv'it). It was of
comse a nH1l'C neknowledgement of an established fact,, It sPerns
only obvious that; the leader of an ancient community, not only in
Siam bnt anywhere, shonld have power over the life <tnrl death of
his snbjects.

As to property, the old Law on Miscellanies promulgated

in lilGO by tho l'onn<ler of Ayuclhyn laid down that all land belonged
to the King, who was graciously pleased to ttllow his snbjEcts to
settle on it;. 'l'hey had every right to t,ill or otherwise earn their
livPlihoocl on it save that of propl'ietOl'ship. Each social grade had
its scale of' maximum allotment of land to which its member was
entitled. King Ohnlnlongkorn, however, initiated the system of
issning title- deeds acknowledging the pract.ica1 right of hiH subjects
to laud-ownership thongh Lbe olcl theory wa,s not exactly ahrogatecl.
In any case the monarch continUL'H to be called tho Lorcl of the Land,
Oluw P'amulin, in conversation. 'l'hc iclca might htWcl come also
from the olrl IrHlian theory of tho lchattiyaJ12).
A foatnre wnrLhy of notice is tho lPgislat,i ve power of the
monarch of old. rl'ho old treatise of the Thrm1.mu.8al dividcrl law
into Lwo main categories, namely: principles ( mnlalcadi) for the
jndicatme consisting of 10 titles, and principles for Lhe people's
litigation consisting of 29 tit;les. Laws promnlgated in those days
were invariably lHtfJCd npon one or other of these titles. Beyond
thPrn the monarch :;eeuJCd to have been Cllrionsly limited in his
legislative power.
Many foroign weitots, not exclncling even the more lonrned
ones, misunderstand the relationship of the King vis-h-vis the
Ohnrch, and often attribute to him sacerdotal powers. 'l'he
ideal monarch of Buddhist India, however, was expressly a warrior
----..- - - - - - - - - - - - ----"""''----.. - ..--- -----------.. -----
(12) cf. supra p. 94.
 H.II. PRINCE DHANI (Vol. XXXVI
102

by birth, though not enconragerl to be w~wliko in llb~ idl!Uli:l. 'l'he

Siamese king has never in theory or praetieo bPun a High Priest, at
any time whatever. What duty he was required to pedorm in this
connection waH dtJwt that of a wor:>hippPr or an 'Uplwlder of the
Faith.' Tho Bnddhist prie::~t, really a monk, seeks rPleaso from
worldly tiPs, ancl the king rnnnot. really al'fcll'll in do that, nnless
he is prepared to be accnserl of neglecting his clnties.

Divine Kingship
Later contact with the Khmer coated this 11atriarebal awl-in
a way-limited kingship with n. veneer of divinity. It. gave outward
dignity to snch ceNmonies as the coronntinn and royal ohsoqnies.
In Uw former, Hinrln deities were invoke(l to porv::Mlc tho anointed
monarch, who was given snch regalia as the trident of Siva and tho
discns of Vishnn, and bore in his full style snch an epithet as the
Jnat?rwNon of the celeBtictl uod8 ( Dibyadeb;-wati1J' ). In tho latter,
the body of a dead monarch was encased in a lco'sa, the tnulitional
Khmer cover for the emblem of Siva, thereby attributing rlivinity
to the royal corpse(13l. Since the cnlt, of this llivinit.y was Hindn
anrl rather involved, all this had no signifi can co in Siam beyond
ontwanl dignity. The average SiameE\O, then as now, hal:\ never
taken np sorionsly the ide:~ oE his king lleint,; connected with Hindn
divinities, who after all had no place in his Bncldhist fail.h.

Later Developments
Having thns traced in sncccssive stages that; Siamese conception
o tho monarchy from the earliest times to nbont tho thh'd reign of
tho Bangkok dynasty, we now come to the final phase of it.s ovolu.
tion, that is the one prior to the l)l'CSont which is a pure flweign
institution and neeJ not be dealt with in a study of the old
concept.ion. Contact with the West lwonght, elwnged conditions and
by this time new problems arose which were no longer within the
radius oC the Constitution of tho Thamrrwsat. Social problems,
(13) The identification of the kosa or obsequial 1:1rn with the cover-sheath
of the emblem of Siva has been presented in detail in J. T.R.S. XXXII,
no. 2 (1st Thai no.) J?l? 4554.
pt 2) THE OLD SIAMESE CONCEPTION OF THE MONARCHY 103

~mch as sanitation and education had to be looked after by the state

instead of hei11g left; to the initiative of the ]1eople and the clergy.
So the King exercised full legislative power in thtl absenee of lll'opo~
sanction of the Tl!ammaBrtl. Nevertheless King Mongkul, who
ascen<l()(l the Throne in 1851, was a highly liberal and idoalist.ic
monarch; and he it was who eommence<1 to make considerable
rnoditlcntionH to the old conception of the monarchy. In the hi-
annual ceremmlil~S of ::-;wearing allegiance to the ldng on the part of
officials and the Court, t.he King i nitiat.erl the ct1stom of himsdf
giving the sovereign's pltdge to he loyal to His people thereby
making it. a hi- partite instead of tho fmuwr 0110- sided oath
of' ~llcgianeo. His son ChnlalonglWl'll followed np in tho same
policy by hi:; abolition of slavery and hil:l rommeiation o tho
'l'reasnry to form the nnelens of Stale property whiuh he hn.(l jnst
organisccl, and to which he tran8ferrcd nll the revenues from ta:xe>s
and dnes hitlwrto paid to the King. King Hamn VI, grandson of
the pionee~ in J'Pfonn, made fnr\,}wr eonsiclerablo sacrifices and
thereby motliliucl n.gair1 \;]18 old coJtePpt.iou of ldngs]dp. All these
changcS came from the sov0reign's own inilhtive. As regards
snccer>tJiou, nlthongh by now the \\'estern cnstom of the elder son's
right to inherit the Crown had been aeceptod, the succussion had
to bo confirmed, a.t least for form's sake, hy a Council of the Lords
of the Hcalm. Such a pnwtice was still kerlt up as lute as 1925
when tho late King Prajarlhipok succeeded His elder b~other
in the absence of a male heir to tho 'l'hrone.

The Theory In Actualities

'l'his old conception of tho monarchy, moto especially the
ethics oE it, such as the tenfold kingly virtues, the quartette of propel'
conduct for the ideal monarch and the theory of the wheel-turning
nnivmsal sovereign, in Siamese cnlcrapat, are <WEll' kept befme the
public eye in literatttre, in sermons and in any othel' channel of
publicity. The Bnd<l hist ideal of the wheel- turning sovereign or
the king of l'ighteonsness is to be detected even in many Hinc1n
ceremonit\S of the Court which are essentially Brahmanic and
104 Il.I-I. PRINCE DHANI (Vol. XXXVI

doubtlessly harrowed from the cult of Uw Divine King of tho

Khmers. Prior to the tn-oper Brahmanic annintnwnt nJ' tho
Coronation, the King seats himself upon an octagonal tlunno ma<le
of fig-wood and is iuvi.ted, by representatives of each ear<liual antl
snhoardinal points of the nniverse stmt,ing with the premic~ point of
the eaHt by wny of plonotulCing his victory, to e.tterul h.8 2!i'Otcch'on
and e;cr.wciso his royal anthol"ity 01)(3?" all tlume Jeaims tlii'J't!in 8itunte
and all bm:nos that thmcin dwell. 'l'his reminds us of comse of the
Vth century B. C. p:tssage already cited above whieh may be
requotell for convenience thns :

. , ... the king, t,he victorious war-lrll'<l, took np his aho1lc

(in the east), .... Then all the rival kings in the 1egion of tho
cast came to tho sovran-king and said: Come, 0 .mighty king!
Welcome, 0 mighty king ! All is thine, 0 migh!,y king !
'l'oach ns, 0 mighty king !

In anothe1 section nf U10 ceremony, l'csponrliug to tho Brahmin

High P1iest nnfl priests who extend to him lhc iuvitat.ion to Jnlu
over the Kingdom, the King says:

Brahmins, now that I have assnmed fnll rcsponBihilit;y

of Government., I shall n~ign in righteousness fur tho goo([
weal of the IHlpnlace. I extend my royal anthol'it.y oVOl' you
and yon1' goods uncl your chattels, and as your ~Hrvoreign d.o
hereby provide for your righteous pl'Crtection, defence and
keeping. '1'1nst me and live at ease.

'l'his is again a reminder of the abovo-eiLe<l tlwoJ'Y of tho

King of Hightcousness(l4) in which the wheel- tllrHiug sovran
nf the nnivc:tso accepts invitation to rule and enjoins the rival
kill,',(~
of the east etc. to adopi. high moral corHlttet und enfoy
yonr posiws.sions (/.8 ye have been wont io do.
'l'he Siamese Coronation has t.o end np with the King's
irinmphnl p!ngre~;s rom11l Lhe eity. In the story of the wheel-tnmiug
- - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(14) cf. supra p, 94.
pt 2) THE OLD SIAMESE CONCEPTION OF THE J\WNARCIJY 105

sovr:m oJ' the nni'vcrse he too wenL hif: rO"ttJHl of the wo1ld in
the wake of Iris celestial wheel. Dr. Wnlus Lhillk!./15) Lhat Lhu
cnstom mllst have harl a fat' ol(lor ~:>ignifieance t.hongh long since
forgotten by the cowmon people, aml traces its ol'igin to Hw Agnii
Pttr>Zt.JW, wlwl'o one finds that th-e~ coronation was concludt'd Ly tiH'l
king riding pradakshina-wise m.onnd the city. .Jatalm 472 also
mentions the right-wise procession of a king l'01lnd hii:l city, Such
a royal progress is of comse a cowmon topic in the BndclhiHt Canon
and the cnstom probably dates back to the perio(l of Bnddhist India.
The local cnstom doubtless originates from this (lirection.
'l'he snLject of the Siamese coneept.ion of t.he monarchy was
fil'st studied by Dr. FI.G.Q. Wales in his Simnese State Cmcnwnies
and formed in it, the IVth chapter ( pp. :29-53 ). No other Htntly
of the snbject has been made since as far as I kno>v. In that study,
however, there tl.!'e certain points which seem to be misunderstood,
snch for instance as the assumption that tho Siamese king performed
Lhe functions of a High-Priest, with which I have already dealt.
with. Nor can 1 accept. the imposing Ust of taboos, practically all
of which have boon misunderstood altogether. 'l'he first item for
inHimwc that the king being divine ii; was Laboo to Lunch his body
especially hi!:! head and hnir. Before tho levelling influence of tho
West became prevalent, no Siamese wonlcl. b :wP tolerated his head
or hair being tonched by his junior :in age or station arHl nn in-
fringement of this was considel'ed as had manners. It applied
naturally all the more when it concerned Lhe head or hair of t.he
king. Thns was the poi:lition. Nothing to do at all with the divine
right of kings. Most. of the ten taboos in Dr. Wales' list, in fact,
were merely the dictates of good manners nncl breeding or else
necessitated by the cant.ion to pl'otect the life of one whose word
an<l action was law and whose deat.h might throw t.he whole conntry
into confusioll. Had the learned doctot been equally conversant
with cotut etitinette in his own connLry, wonld he have written that
U wns ctlso taboo in England to nse uHwd of the common language
(15) cf. Siamese State Oeremonics, p, 107.
106 1-I.H. PRINCE DHANI (Vol. XXXVI

O?' common mrJ17es of add1ess, when spealcinr; lo nr al)(llft tlw J{ina

and 2.Jrinces,(16) when he notieefl that one often :mi1l Yom 1\Iajeflty
instead of you, that one prefol'l'ecl to talk of the King'K natal ll<~Y
rather than birthday and to say that. the Hoveteign had lll'C'll plca:>eLl
to command his attendance upon the King at, dinmr an<1 so on?
Would he be nutintaining that it was taboo iu his eouutry fur hiH
sovereign not to address a fellow i'lovereign in hi~ let.tm:-J as his
illustrious brother when the king knew just as wdl as Dr. Wales
that the addressee was really no relation of his ? Wonhl the loarnucl
<1octor luwe stated that it was taboo in, say French Iwlochiua, fol'
all persons who pass the Residant Superieur's car to koep their hats
on, anrl how wonlcl he explain the reason of i:melt a blwo siueu t.ho
Hesidant Superieur was at best just. t.ho ropre:;entati ve of mw, who,
however highly placed in his land, had never pretended to 'lay any
claim to the clivinit.y of his office ?
Such :we the kind of points to which I c:on not. agJ<u wit.h tho
lemJwtl lloetor. 'With all llue respect to hi~ Wi!lO-l'!,ading anll l1igh
erudition whieh I emu never clahn to Cllllal, there at'D, 1 [l'()l, emt.rdu
points the significance of which requires no nfiort J'or a uat.ivc tu
understand and appreciate even Lhongh thny Sl~um so pl'!lblomatieal
to the foreigner. I feel, thore.Eore, that a now tn,at!lll\llt. of t.lw
subjeet flneh as t.hiR artie1e woul(l not bo snpl,rlhwn;;,

( 16) c. Siamese State Ceremonies, p. 39, section 8.